Grandpa's Visit to Calaveras

My father came to visit us over my birthday weekend. On Friday, he initiated the first ever Cal State "Bring your daddy to work" day. While I was in a meeting, he spent the morning observing RJ at school from the observation booth. I got a full play by play of RJ's day afterward! We had lunch with a colleague and then attended a department committee meeting. Unfortunately for him, Fridays aren't usually very exciting for me - I typically have a meeting or two and spend the rest of the time prepping or grading! He probably would have had more fun with Lance at work since they had a Tropic Thunder screening, a crunch party, and Antonio Banderas over for lunch (yes, I'm dead serious!).

Saturday

On Saturday, we went from Calaveras Lane to Calaveras County (interestingly enough, neither is on or near the Calaveras Fault line which runs through the East Bay!).

Our first stop was a tour of Moaning Cavern where we descended 165 feet into the caves. For adventure seekers, we'll need to make a second trip (sans RJ) where we can rappel down instead of taking the stairs, and then crawl through tunnels:



We stopped at Angel's Camp which is notable for any Mark Twain or jumping frog fans:





















We skipped over, the Glory Hole Recreation Area and headed to Columbia State Park which is a restored Gold Rush Era town. Think Plymouth Plantation or Williamsburg but with panning for gold and bowling:







Our last stop was for dinner in Sonora and dessert at an old fashioned soda shop.

Sunday

Sunday we mostly hung out around the house -- but we did sneak out in the afternoon for some wine tasting at Concannon Vineyards as well as some frolicking on their grounds: